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It’s cer­tain­ly one of the grander ghost towns – and being Ital­ian, it even has a func­tion­ing bar.

These pic­tures give you a mes­meris­ing glimpse inside the so-called Cit­tà dei Baloc­chi — ‘City of Toys’ — which was once a play­ground for well-heeled res­i­dents and tourists from Milan, an 80-minute dri­ve to the south.

In its hey­day, the tourist hotspot, in the foothills of the Alps, lured vis­i­tors with quirky archi­tec­ture and attrac­tions that includ­ed shop­ping gal­leries, casi­nos, restau­rants, a grand hotel and a ball­room. It even had a fake cas­tle. But now the eerie car­cass of this eccen­tric fol­ly sits crum­bling on the hill­side, with the sur­round­ing wood­lands slow­ly swal­low­ing it.